CC0 · no rights reserved
Henry Elliott Johnston
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Henry Elliott Johnston (1831-1884) was a Baltimore railroad executive and banker. He and his wife, Harriet, traveled frequently to Europe to build their art collection, and this bust was created on one of their trips to Rome. Like other wealthy Americans of the Gilded Age, the Johnstons hoped that America would one day compete with European art institutions. They anticipated that their private collection would contribute to that process by becoming part of “a national gallery of art.”
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineHenry Elliott Johnston. 1873. William Henry Rinehart, born Union Bridge, MD 1825-died Rome, Italy 1874. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Harriet Lane Johnston. CC0.
